Nike organized street tennis for Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and others in the meatpacking district. Tommy Hilfiger opted for strip tennis with Rafael Nadal in Bryant Park. Delta Air Lines held a celebrity karaoke night with Serena Williams near Times Square. And American Express staged what it called a “hydro-interactive tennis experience” featuring Ms. Sharapova along the Hudson River.

The matches might start next week, but the action was going full tilt this week for elite players in the United States Open and the brands they represent. Held in the nation’s media capital and attracting an upscale audience, the Open has always been a coveted event for companies promoting their products, and the week leading into the tournament has become a marketing extravaganza, each brand seemingly trying to outdo the others.

But as a result, the week has also become a balancing act for players, who find themselves trotted around and put on display as they are trying to prepare for the year’s last major tournament.

Eschewing Queens, where the actual tournament is played, marketers spread out across Manhattan, where even glamorous locations had to get a makeover. On Monday, Nike closed down a street by the Standard Hotel to set up a court where Mr. Federer and others — including Mr. Nadal, Ms. Williams, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi — batted balls back and forth. The American Express event included a water and light show and holograms of tennis legends.

“We’re seeing an evolution of the role the U.S. Open plays in New York life,” said Simon Wardle, the chief strategy officer at Octagon, a sports marketing agency. “It’s transcended the sports world to become the social event to mark the end of summer.”

Case in point: At Nike’s event, Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and one of the most powerful women in the fashion and publishing industries, sat in the front row.

At a time when consumers are skipping television commercials and blocking ads online, brands are scrambling to find ways to reach their audience. Aligning themselves with live sports events like the United States Open is one way that companies try to break into the conversation and drive awareness.

“If you compare it to the Super Bowl or March Madness or the N.B.A. All-Star Game, there’s always a huge amount of ancillary events in and around the sporting event,” said Drew LeMesurier, a director of talent marketing for the agency Lagardère Unlimited. “It’s great for us — for business.”

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Maria Sharapova was projected onto a veil of falling water at Rally on the River, an American Express event Wednesday night.CreditBrad Barket/Getty Images for American Express

Executives at companies with events this week said the goal was to connect tennis stars with fans and ride the collective excitement in New York leading up to the tournament.

“We always want to be aligned with people’s passion points,” Annika Schmitz, director of sponsorships and brand activation for Delta, said at the company’s karaoke event Wednesday night.

Many brands are also aiming to drum up attention with their pretournament events, particularly on social media.

American Express, for instance, filmed its event Wednesday night at Pier 97 with the intention of putting the video on YouTube to “get America excited and talking,” said Deborah Curtis, vice president for global sponsorships and experiential marketing at the company.

But Ms. Sharapova’s headline appearance at the “Rally on the River” event was fleeting. She emerged in giant form, projected onto a veil of falling water behind a tennis court. She walked onto the stage and hit a ball at a holographic American Express logo, missing narrowly. She exited after a brief chat with the event’s M.C., leaving the lower-ranked players John Isner and Monica Puig to do the heavy lifting.

At Delta’s karaoke event Wednesday night, the actress Laverne Cox urged the crowd to use the hashtag #DeltaOpenMic when sharing photos and videos online (“Please get my good side,” she said, turning her backside to the audience. “This is the good side.”)

The Tommy Hilfiger strip-tennis promotion on Tuesday was centered on an unusual premise: Lose a point, lose an article of clothing.

Photographs of Mr. Nadal’s glistening abs were posted on Twitter and Instagram immediately.

The hashtag #TommyXNadal appeared in roughly 11,000 tweets over the next 36 hours, according to Wayin, a social intelligence company. The most common word that accompanied the hashtag was “underwear.”

Because so many brands are involved in the run-up to the United States Open, some companies are opting to stage their events during the tournament itself. Heineken, for instance, has for several years opened a Heineken House on the tournament grounds, with beer and appearances by tennis players and celebrities. There will also be a photo booth so tennis fans can share pictures on social media.

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Akin Akman, left, and Chanel Iman played a strip-tennis match with Rafael Nadal, foreground, in Bryant Park.CreditDamon Winter/The New York Times

The marketing push might be good for product promotion, but it can be a challenge for players trying to juggle preparation with publicity.

Mr. Nadal was also at the Nike event on Monday, a charity event on Wednesday and appeared at a table tennis cocktail event on Thursday. “It’s always busy weeks before the slams, and this week is a little bit busy,” he said. But, he added, “I, for sure, make sure that I have time to practice as much as I can.”

Another player, Caroline Wozniacki, the runner-up at last year’s Open, said she had originally planned to practice and fulfill sponsorship commitments this week. But after suffering early losses in her previous three tournaments, she took a late wild card entry into the Connecticut Open in New Haven.

That, she said, forced her to condense what had been a weeklong marketing schedule into one day, Monday, when she made appearances for Godiva, Usana Health Sciences and The Players’ Tribune.

Two other players competing in New Haven, Madison Keys and Eugenie Bouchard, took a helicopter to Manhattan on Monday so they could get to the Nike event on time.

Perhaps no athlete was balancing more this week than Ms. Williams, who currently holds all four Grand Slam titles. If she wins the Open, it would be her first calendar-year Grand Slam, an accomplishment last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.

Still, Ms. Williams had a week filled with promotional appearances. Dressed in a white tank top, black skirt and heels, she performed the song “Under the Sea” from the Disney movie “The Little Mermaid” at the karaoke event on Wednesday. She will also attend a cocktail event with her sister Venus on Friday at the St. Regis Hotel.

The commitments, she said in a recent interview, took precedence over trying to play in a warm-up tournament.